Jinja High Court on Friday dismissed the election petition challenging the victory of Stephen Mayende Dede as Member of Parliament for Bukooli South Constituency in Namayingo District.
Peter Ochieng, the former Bukooli South legislator in the 8th parliament, went to court after losing to Mayende in the February 18th elections. Ochieng polled 16,754 votes against 18,375 votes obtained by Mayende.
The petitioner accused Mayende of bribery, intimidation and harassment of voters, which resulted into his defeat.
However, court presided over by deputy registrar Festo Nsenje on Friday ruled that the petitioner failed to produce enough evidence to prove his allegations.
The registrar, who was giving the ruling on behalf of Justice Monica Mugenyi, said court has found no proof of bribery, intimidation, harassment and undue influence as presented by the petitioner and therefore dismissed the petition.
He asked the petitioner to foot costs of the suit.
Mayende said he expected the ruling to be in his favor because there was no foul play by his camp during elections, as alleged by the petitioner. He advised Ochieng to be calm and wait for this term to end and come to contest again.
He said defeating Ochieng in court was not new because he had defeated him during the NRM party primary polls.
